1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a protective circuit for a power supply unit that is located between a constant voltage source and the operating voltage input of the device and consists of a diode and a limiting resistor connected in series, the diode and the limiting resistor being bridged by a relay normally open contact that may be closed as soon as a predeterminable minimum valve of a voltage of the power supply unit, to which a field winding of the relay is connected, has been reached.
A plurality of electronic devices, such a switching power supply units for example, are fed from a constant voltage source, a battery for example, or from a local constant voltage network. When the device is connected to the constant voltage source with the wrong polarity, expensive component parts of the device may be destroyed as a result thereof so that a reverse battery protection is provided for in the form of a diode or a diode bridge for example. Due to inductive and/or capacitive component parts, the connection of the device to the constant voltage source may furthermore lead to very high transient current pulses, which also may cause the destruction of component parts. Although this may be prevented in many cases by fast blow fuses, e.g., safety fuses, it requires lots of work to replace the fuses; therefore, a limiting resistor, more specifically a thermistor, is used to limit inrush current.
In operation, such type protective circuits, consisting for example of a diode and a thermistor, produce permanent losses which reduce the overall efficiency of the device. When the device has an input current of 2 A and when a diode and a 1-ohm limiting resistor are being used, the additional permanent loss amounts to approximately 5 Watt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A protective circuit that substantially corresponds to the type mentioned herein above has been disclosed in the German Patent No. DE 33 08 320 A1. By means of a control circuit that detects the voltage difference between a supply voltage and a consumer, a controlled switch, such as a relay or a semiconductor switch for example, is gated in such a manner that the switch only closes, and thereby bridges the limiting resistor, when the voltage difference between supply voltage and consumer has dropped below a certain value. As the complete evaluation of the voltage difference and the gating of the switch occur electronically, the expenditure is quite high and there still is a certain failure probability.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a protective circuit that will not only cause considerably less permanent losses but that also is simple and inexpensive in construction and particularly reliable as well.
The solution to this object is a protective circuit of the type mentioned herein above in which, in accordance with the invention, the field winding of the relay is connected to the output voltage of the power supply unit.
The invention offers the protection aimed at with minimum expenditure and also operates when an error occurs at the separate potential output.
If a buffer resistor of low impedance is located in series with the controlled switch, disturbances in switching are kept particularly low although slightly higher losses have to be accepted.